Curbing protests following a spate of attacks on Jewish institutions will have a "chilling" impact on free expression, human rights' lawyers say, as a landmark plan to address anti-Semitism is revealed.
The Victorian government is drafting laws to ban protests outside places of worship and demonstrators wearing face coverings following high-profile incidents involving masked neo-Nazis and the firebombing of a synagogue at Ripponlea in Melbourne.
Another arson attack on an East Melbourne synagogue, one of four anti-Semitic incidents over the weekend, has prompted the premier to set up a task force and promise further action if required.
Human Rights Law Centre legal director Sarah Schwartz accused Premier Jacinta Allan of conflating acts of violence with peaceful protest, noting the laws would not have prevented the synagogue attacks because they were not protests.
A 34-year-old man from Sydney has been charged over the East Melbourne synagogue arson, while counter-terrorism police continue to investigate the Ripponlea firebombing.
Ms Schwartz cited sexual abuse survivors outside churches as a legitimate form of protest that may be impinged under the plan, and mask-ban exemptions for health, disability, and religious reasons would be "impossible" to enforce without discriminatory policing.
"These new laws taken altogether will have a chilling effect on peaceful protest," she told AAP.
Victoria's "knee-jerk measures" risked taking the state down the same path as the NSW government, which rushed "regressive" protest and speech laws through parliament after an explosives-laden caravan was found with anti-Semitic messaging in Sydney in February, Ms Schwartz said.
Investigators later revealed the discovery was part of a "criminal con job".
More than 900 people have signed a Jewish Council of Australia petition calling on Ms Allan to drop the anti-protest laws.
"These laws are not about our safety - they are about stopping dissent," it said.
"Doing this in our names fuels the flames of anti-Semitism against us."
Other Jewish groups suggest Victoria adopt a NSW-style protest permit system, following a pro-Palestine protest outside Israeli restaurant Miznon in the CBD on Friday, which left a glass door smashed and tables and chairs up-ended.
Ms Allan has dismissed the measure.
The Victorian opposition announced on Thursday it would introduce a protest registration system if elected at the November 2026 election.
Police would be given stronger powers to crackdown on unregistered and disruptive protests with on-the-spot move-on orders, and repeat offenders who defied court-issued exclusion orders would face up to two years in jail as well as significant fines.
It comes as Australia's special envoy to combat anti-Semitism, Jillian Segal, delivered her action plan, which recommended a review of laws around anti-Semitic and hateful conduct, including violent or intimidating protests.
Prime Minister Anthony Albanese maintained people had a right to express their views but called for protests to be done "respectfully, peacefully, orderly".
Ms Segal said the anti-Semitic events in Melbourne were not isolated and formed part of a broader pattern of intimidation and violence against Jewish Australians.
Victoria beefed up its anti-vilification laws in March, and the criminal reforms will take effect on September 20.
